Scottish Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott will lobby the UK’s armed forces minister to keep axe-threatened RAF Leuchars open.
Mr Scott will travel to London to meet Nick Harvey a Lib Dem minister and make the case for saving the “crucial” Fife air base.
North-East Fife’s Lib Dem MP, Sir Menzies Campbell, and MSP Iain Smith will join him.
A major campaign has been launched to retain the Fife base, which employs 1560 service personnel and 220 civilian staff.
“I’m going to London to make the case for RAF Leuchars direct to the UK Government,” Mr Scott told The Courier.
“I travelled to Lossiemouth to speak at the rally against closing their RAF base and now I want to make the case for RAF Leuchars.
“All parties came together with the Scottish Government to make a joint submission to the UK’s Defence Review. In it, we made clear our opposition to the closure of Scottish bases.
“I will set out the impact that closing this base would have on Fife and the surrounding area. It shouldn’t be a case of either Moray or Leuchars. Both play important roles in the UK’s defence and both should remain open.”Part of the fabricMr Smith added, “The importance of RAF Leuchars is in no way restricted to its irrefutable strategic defence significance.
“It is woven into the fabric of north-east Fife and its surrounding communities by way of pupils for local schools, consumers of services and businesses, and not least as an economic driver for Fife and Tayside.
“While the defence case for its retention alone is compelling and overwhelming, the ramifications of closure would be devastating to the area. RAF Leuchars is far more than just a military base it is central to this community.”Sir Menzies said the meeting would serve two purposes.
“Firstly, to emphasise the strategic case for Leuchars and to point out that the factors which determined that Leuchars should have the responsibility for the air defence of northern Britain remain exactly the same today as they did when the base was chosen as the home for the three Eurofighter Typhoon squadrons,” he said.
“I have yet to hear any strategic justification for taking that responsibility away from Leuchars.”
Sir Menzies added, “Second, to emphasise the close integration between the base and the surrounding community economically, educationally and socially.”
The review saw RAF Kinloss in Moray earmarked for closure and put a question mark over RAF Lossiemouth, but leaked reports from the Ministry of Defence later suggested RAF Leuchars could be sacrificed to save Lossiemouth. Last week First Minister Alex Salmond claimed the local economy in Fife and Moray may already have been damaged by the ongoing uncertainty around the bases.
There have been suggestions the SNP government may be favouring Lossiemouth as Moray is represented by a nationalist MSP and MP, whereas north-east Fife is a Lib Dem stronghold.
The Ministry of Defence has consistently insisted no decision on which base is to close has been taken.